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This dissertation begins with my experience and confusion about community work. It aims to explore the reason why there is only a small number of social work graduates working in communities. The research started from reviewing the historical context of community work, and ended with developing my own view on community work. I tried to develop critical and reflective thinking in this dissertation through a literature review, dialogues with predecessors, and my own experiences between 2010 and 2019. It was argued that social work values were profoundly affected by social structure, policies and social work education, while the above-mentioned value made impact on the practices of community work. All these issues have marginalized how community work was placed in the field of social work. Critical discussions were therefore carried out as the following four aspects: 1. the historical context of community work; 2. policies of the central government on community work; 3. community work in social work education; and, 4. the community work and community work education that I imagined. |